The Rhetoric of Identity in the Age of Social Media

The following post is relevant to my dissertation research on digital rhetoric, authorship, and identity, but I hope that readers will find it interesting since it is applicable to their online interactions as well. I'm eager for any feedback that you have. -CCM

In Rhetoric: A User’s Guide, John D. Ramage claims that “the most important function served by rhetoric is the work it does in service of identity formation” (33). He claims that “Who were are, who we wish to be, and the amount of control we have over either of those two matters depends significantly on our rhetorical skill” (33). Managing our identity rhetorically requires even more skill in the digital age and more recently involves the sacrifice of a personal degree of control over identity which we thought we had gained in the early days of the Internet. Although freedom and flexibility were often associated with online identity in the early years of chat rooms and MUDs, in recent years it appears that a new fixity regarding identity has emerged with the advent of social media.

Early online models of communication such as multiuser dungeons (MUDs), chat rooms, and discussion boards permitted ample flexibility with identity since they permitted users to adopt a different screen name and a different persona in each venue. One of the first studies to address the implications of identity in the digital age was Sherry Turkle's (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. In her examination of MUDs, Turkle examines various attributes associated with this newfound flexibility. While some participants chose an avatar or user persona who was very similar to their offline personalities, others chose one that was dramatically different (183). It was not uncommon for participants to choose the opposite gender or to adopt a race or ethnicity that was different from their own. Of course, there were disadvantages associated with anonymity and flexibility of identity online, including flaming, trolling, and outright deception. Many cases of deception such as the Kaycee Nicole cancer hoax were well publicized and created an attitude of suspicion concerning online identities.  

Over the past 10 years, there has been a shift toward more fixed forms of rhetorical identity online, and this shift appears to coincide with the popularization of social media. In social media, facets of a user’s online and offline identity are often closely linked with one’s offline identity – even acting as an extension of it. For example, an average user may have a Facebook account, contribute to several blogs, and be affiliated with various websites. Each of these venues encourages users to “link” their identity on that particular site with various other dimensions of online identity, thus creating a sense of cohesion regarding identity online. The “real name” policies enforced on some websites only further contribute to this phenomenon by enforcing an association between dimensions of one's offline and online identity. (For some insight on Facebook’s real name policy, see danah boyd.) The result is that one’s rhetorical identity is no longer shaped only by the direct online context in which one is participating, but it is also shaped by various other tidbits of information which exist out there in cyberspace and by an affiliation with one’s offline life. These aspects merge to create a more fixed rhetorical identity online.

If more fixed/cohesive forms of rhetorical identity are being shaped online, is this shift toward fixity a response to hoaxes and deceptions – a desire to establish some sort of authorial accountability in a previously “authorless” context, or is it merely a trend that is strongly influenced by social media platforms (perhaps even for commercial gain - the more companies know about you, the more they benefit)? 

Also, how might we use rhetorical theory to characterize this new method of “shaping” identity online? Does it mark a shift from a medium where the Aristotelian concept of ethos as identity constructed in the text was acceptable to one where the Ciceronian understanding of ethos (which also considers one’s character and actions outside of the message) is more appropriate? 

All of these questions are worth considering as we move into an age where social media increasingly play a role not only in our personal lives, but in our professional lives as well.

References

boyd, danah."'Real Names' Policies Are an Abuse of Power." apophenia. 4 Aug. 2011. 22 Feb. 2012.

Johnson, Bobbie. "The Short Life of Kaycee Nicole." The Guardian. 27 May 2001. 22 Feb. 2012.

Lynch, Diane. "Wired Women: Beautiful Cancer Victim a Hoax." ABC News. 30 May. 22 Feb. 2012.

Ramage, John D. Rhetoric: A User's Guide. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2006.

Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet.New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.